Song Sparrow on my garden fence... Spring, 2011

House (also called English) Sparrows are every day visitors to my bird feeders. One day last week, I spotted a different looking sparrow and managed to snap one decent picture before it disappeared. Out came the books to attempt an ID. Fortunately, this one is different enough from others that I was able to identify it with 99% certainty as Melospiza melodia and then got confirmation from a couple of Flickr friends who are REALLY good birders!

I've posted this to communal global and will be posting it shortly to Sweet Shot Tuesday and later today to World Bird Wednesday. I'm fairly new to the notion of sharing images through other's blogs and am finding it fun to do so come on and join the fun! :-)

Bishops' Mitre (Epimedium x Rubrum) ... Spring 2011

I do so look forward to these tiny flower blossoms every spring. Their delicate beauty fascinates me as do all the lovely details visible in a very close macro shot such as this one. In case you don't know this flower, the size of a single blossom is 10-12mm across (about the size of a dime US currency) so that gives you a sense of how tiny the ant is that was crawling around on this blossom! (taken while lying flat on the ground to get down to "eye" level with the blossoms)

This is a shade loving, low growing, ground cover plant that naturalizes slowly to cover a larger area of the garden each year. My garden has quite a lot of shady area!

I'll be posting this to Macro Monday over at Lisa's Chaos... on Monday, of course!

Washington Monument in late afternoon light... Washington, DC Spring 2011

My cousin Jane and our friends Dennis and Susie took a photography workshop with Blue Ridge Workshops this past Sunday evening... we were learning about night photography while photographing the war memorials on the Mall in Washington, DC. This image was taken just as the sun broke through the clouds near sunset... it lit up the monument beautifully. Look closely and you'll be able to see the Capitol Building through the flags to the left of the base of the Washington Monument.

Posted to share at communal global for Tuesdays around the World.

Candytuft... perfection in miniature in the spring garden... 2011

I'm finally getting back to somewhat normal after being away for a family funeral (mentioned in the previous post) and coming home with a miserable cold. Yesterday was the first day I felt mostly human again and it poured down rain all day. Today is bright and sunny and I was inspired to get outdoors and take a few pictures of the garden blossoms.

Last year, my attempts to photograph my Candytuft in bloom were mostly failures but I'm rather pleased with this image which required almost no post-processing except for a minor crop and slight brightness adjustment. Hope you enjoy this and that you have a marvelous week ahead of you. I'll be slowly making my way around to blogs over the next week or so... it's amazing how far behind one can fall by being basically off-line for only 11 days!

Posted to Macro Monday over at Lisa's Chaos... come join the fun!

In memory of Robin... August 15, 1937 - April 6, 2011

My half-brother Robin passed away April 6, 2011 after a long illness. Many family members (myself included) were with him at the end. He was an avid gardener and spent many happy hours studying plants as well as growing many lovely specimens in his garden.

Thanks to montucky at Montana Outdoors, I now know the name of the flowering tree whose blossom I've shown here. My sister-in-law told me the plant name was "oo-me" which I spelled phonetically to represent how she pronounced it. I'd tried to find information about it by just about every possible combination and permutation of letters and had failed to find it. But thanks to montucky, I now know it the name is spelled "ume" and the tree, Prunus mume, is known by several common names, among them Japanese apricot and Chinese plum. The blossoms range from white to the deep pink shown here.

I'm posting this image in Robin's memory as it seems a fitting tribute to share something of beauty that he enjoyed. I promise to return visits as soon as I'm able but am spending family time this week and am not online nearly as much as usual. (did take a few minutes time today to post this at Macro Monday over at Lisa's Chaos... stop by and join the fun...)

Post for Tuesday's Around the World

My cousin Jane and our friend Susie were on our way home from a day together exploring the nearby Maryland/Virginia/West Virginia countryside when we pulled the car over to see if we could find a spot from which to photograph the glorious sunset sky.

We had spent the day together, wending our way toward a visit to my favorite potter in Sharpsburg, MD with stops along the way to photograph whatever caught our eye. This was taken in Boonsboro, MD after we discovered we could wander down behind some buildings on the main street and get a mostly unobstructed view of the sky! If you want to read more of the story and see more images from our photographic adventure, check out my other blog starting with this post.

This post is for sharing on "TUESDAYS AROUND THE WORLD" at communal global. I've been writing my own blogs for awhile now and have only recently discovered a community of folks who share images based on a theme. I'm finding it interesting but am so busy that I'm also wondering if I'll be able to keep it up long term. Meantime, it's fun and a good way to meet other bloggers so you might want to give it a try yourself. (my previous post was shared too so check it out for another place to share images if you are into macro photography)

Raindrops on Helleborus Petals... Spring, 2011

After the previous post, anything will look pale by comparison to the intense colors of the Crocus. This is another close-up with my 105mm macro lens... but no extension tubes were used for this one. I rather like the fact that only one droplet is in sharp focus on the Helleborus leaving the rest of the image to mostly recede into the background.

I'm posting this so it's ready for sharing on Macro Monday over at Lisa's Chaos... check it out and join the fun!